According to our expert Merlin Tuttle, any bat that moves into a bat house in your yard will already have inspected your house and found it unsuited for use. If your house was good for bats, they’d likely already be there. Since bats are wild animals, there’s never a way to guarantee how they will behave. That said, many exclusion professionals will recommend that a well-placed bat house on the exterior of the location in-question will encourage bats to choose the bat house next time they return from hibernation. This works best when the exclusion professional has built in a one-way exit to your barn/attic so that the bats are forced to find a new home. With a BatBnB nearby they’ll be very likely to take up residence there rather than try to sneak back into a building.

 

Bats are critical. They keep the vast numbers of pests and insects under control, pollinate flowers, and carry seeds for important plants. Bats also safeguard our health by reducing demands for toxic pesticides—one of our planet’s most serious, but too often ignored, health threats. In fact, a 2011 study published in the journal Science estimated that bats save U.S. farmers approximately $23 billion annually in avoided pesticide use. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department estimates such savings in the Texas Hill Country at $1.4 billion annually. Major savings have been documented worldwide. This link will provide you with many examples, including mosquito control.

Visit BatBnB’s Bat Education Zone to learn more about bats and the pests they eat!